The Influences of economic conditions on fertility intentions of Russian men

Dorothea Rieck, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Since the beginning of the political and economic transition of the 1990s, significant changes in the demographic behavior have been observed in Russia. A dramatic decline of the TFR and the increase of cohabitations and extra marital births are the main aspects. The economic downturn of the last 15 years had become one of the major factors responsible for the significant decline of Russian TFR. The main research question is to analyze how the economic situation influences the fertility intentions of Russian men. We use the Russian GGS (2004) and to analyze the data we applied a logistical regression. One of the main results is the difference between the influences on the intentions to have a first or a subsequent child. Whereas the desire to have a first child is far less influenced by economic factors, these are the decisive factors for the decision to have a subsequent child.